Buried in a thread below about this week's article by David Marsh is a claim that even after this incredible victory in the 'Shoe over Ohio State....that the poster believes that Dan Lanning should be held accountable for the three losses this year, and has hinted/implied more than once that he should be fired and replaced.

Even when there were calls in this forum for his replacement after the loss to Illinois, I felt that since Lanning had won so many games for us, and the obvious coaching talent was there--we should let him continue his learning journey at Oregon as he will surely correct the situation. He, as well as the fans see what the problems are, and let's allow him to solve them?

The problems on offense were improved upon by a factor I never could have imagined. Yes, the run-blocking needs much more improvement, but the difference in scoring in just two games against ranked opponents is simply amazing to me. I have all the confidence that he will solve Oregon's other issues in the off-season.

The assertions against him were how his five-year track record should have been better, but the chart below after the Ohio State win shows his track record in 4.75 years at Oregon....tied for second in all of college football for the most wins. The raw coaching talent is there and has already been shown, and I believe that we will all see the coaching upside that he has left.

Above shows the number of wins in college football over the last 4.75 years, and he is tied with Ohio State, and only lags No. 1 Georgia at this point. He has things to solve and upside left as a coach....and he knows that, yet he's done this much winning already? I would ask fans to give him the chance to implement his changes, and see how it impacts the next three years.

What does it say about the fans of two schools tied for second in the most wins over the last five years in college football--to call for the heads of both coaches? In both cases after just three losses in one season?

Regardless of the results of the final three games of the regular season and whatever awaits us in post-season...it is evident we have a head coach who is one of the best head coaches in the country, and let's see what he can continue to do for us!

Do you think we could be the victims of some trolls? I could not help but notice that those who are the most "over-the-top" negative were not here for all the winning of recent years; they showed up and registered only after the first loss of this season. (Again, discussing the negative is fine, as I've done that too, but a few OBD members take it too far)

Do you agree? Do you think fans are correct, or going overboard asking for Dan's "accountability" after his three losses and the win in Columbus?

If he is to be held accountable for the losses, he should be held accountable for the wins also. I would say he's done pretty good.

Let's see who qualifies to throw the first stone.

Dan Lanning is coaching at a level I don't think I have ever witnessed. Probably the best coaching job of any power coach this year.

Amazing to watch, brilliant job Dan. It's easy to coach with a light breeze. Much harder to sail that ship in a hurricane. We are blessed to witness what we are experiencing this season

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by Log Haulin

FAN derives from the word FANATIC! "A fanatic is a person who shows extreme, unreasonable, and uncritical enthusiasm, devotion, or zeal for a cause, belief, or activity."

Rarely have met or known a Fanatic that also applies LOGIC to their fanatical perspectives.

Sometimes myself included.

NUFF SAID.

GO QUACKERS ALL YA FELLOW FANATICAL DUCKHEADS!!! 🦆

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by MicroBurst61

Quick question. If James Franklin was Oregon's coach this season (with the same coordinators) what would his record be at this point?

I think Lanning held himself to account with the mid season firing.

Of course he should be held accountable, it's how people learn from their mistakes. His reliance on in-house promotion isn't necessarily a bad idea but he messed it up by not performing a proper search for candidates for comparison...he just went with hiring a buddy he thought he knew well. Ultimately it contributed to what may be a lost season if OBD doesn't get into the CFP.

But it's easy to forget that he's only in his 5th year as a head coach ever and is still rather green in certain aspects (staff management would be one of them). He did fire Meh which is a step in the right direction (though if Jay Johnson didn't work out as play caller I think most of use would be feeling very differently about the season right now). Re-evaluating his positional staff after the season ends would be another positive step (at minimum I think we need new blood at QB and OL coaching).

What will ultimately show that he's taking that accountability seriously is launching a formal nationwide search for OC candidates and fully evaluating them before making a decision. He needs to get this hire right and performing that formal search is the way to do it. If it turns out to be Jay Johnson then that's who it will be as long as he's been vetted against others and evaluated to be the best option.

By that ridiculous standard of "accountability" every coach in the country, except the one that wins the national championship, should be fired every year.

I’m more concerned about him learning from the experience and adjusting than “being held accountable” for a few losses in one season where EVERYBODY is accumulating head-scratching losses. The recent trend of knee-jerk firings feels extremely short-sighted, unless you think you already have a better option on the hook with loads of buy-out money floating around.

Of course he should, but that does not mean he should be fired for half a season that did not live up to expectations.

That's just ludicrous IMHO, Saban was just about run out of town at MSU and he was run out of town at Miami. Seems like he turned out OK.

For me (not that it really matters) the fact that he swallowed his pride, put his stubborness aside and made the hard decision to fire Meh says a lot. Staying the course would have been a total disaster and to his credit he saw that.

Of course a lot depends on how we finish. We still have a chance to get into the CFP and win it all. We could also finish 6-6 and go to a garbage bowl. Time will tell.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by noDucknewby

He’s a Top 5 head coach in the country. He made a terrible decision with his OC hire. He recognized that mistake fixed it mid-year.

I would love to hear from anyone that wants Dan fired who they think the replacement would be. My guess is any realistic option would be a significant downgrade.

Let me add that only 4 teams have made the 12-team playoff both years - Oregon, tOSU, Indiana, and Georgia. Is it realistic to expect to make that field every year? TOSU and one of Oregon / Indiana are likely not getting in this year. That means 2 teams (Georgia and Indiana or Oregon) will have made it all three years.

I think expectations are out of whack. If you are able to make that field better than 50% of the time, you are borderline elite.

Next year going to 24 teams, I do think expectations will shift and Oregon should get in every year.

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by GeotechDuck

Holding a coach "accountable" for 3 losses? 3? After winning 26 with 3 losses the last 2 years?!

This type of thinking is somewhat irresponsible. Granted, it's who and how we lost that are the real issue, and only because we think so highly of ourselves.

It's also a result of believing only a national championship determines a successful season. A belief that I personally dislike.

Do we only accept "Saban-esque" type results? Even he took years, different teams and leaving and returning to CFB before winning so much ( not to mention the recruiting prowe$$ of Bama).

In this era of portal transfers and NIL, few coaches, if any, are doing a better job coaching than Lanning.

Just look at other expensive rosters that are doing poorly; Texas A&M, LSU, tOSU, and many more!

We as fans seem to have lost the ability to appreciate development.

Our O-line has been one of the best the last 3 years. Each year we had players with years of in-game experience. This year we have talent, but missing as much experience. In each of the past 3 games we have witnessed vast improvement. Still room to grow. But definitely headed in right direction.

Yes, winning every week is fun, but not at all realistic. C'mon people, have we forgotten our past, where we've come from?

I agree we should hold our head coach and his staff to a high standard and never accept losing as a way of life (we are Oregon, not Oregon State!). But we gotta be somewhat realistic.

Don't forget that Bo and D Gabriel were the most experienced QBs in the history of CFB. Their OC's went on to become head coaches, successful ones. Not every year or every hire is gonna be that good.

In Lanning I trust. Go DUCKS!

I had three opportunities to supervise employees during my career. In the first I hired two persons that I later had to terminate, and hired others who were good to great. In the second I did better and in the third I was very successful. I learned with each experience. In the professional world, the business world and sports that's the way it works. Considering his age and experience when he became the Duck head coach, Dan Lanning is outstanding in his first experience as the leader.

One part people don't seem to consider is that if you do not promote from within your staff will always be looking to go elsewhere. That's not a great environment for success.

Lanning is not only good with his staff, he is the best strategist during the game in Oregon history, going back to Len Casanova in the 1950's. Yes, Chip Kelly had some good years, but he came to Autzen for Northwestern and Lanning and his crew out-coached him. No Oregon coach that I can recall made the kind of strategic moves during the game like Lanning made vs. Ohio State last week. Was Lanning too bold in his early years at Oregon a few times? In retrospect, with the benefit of hindsight, maybe he was. But he has mellowed in that respect, learning along the way.

The primary thought an AD has to have in mind when considering termination of a coach is whether there is someone out there who could do a better job. I cannot think of anyone who would be a better fit for Oregon than Lanning.

To answer your question about trolls, Charles, it is not even possible that some Husky honks would invade this site to create havoc. Is it?

I'm only saying this one thing. Dan Lanning is one of the top best coaches out there. Oregon has nothing but upside with Lanning at the helm.

Urban Meyer Makes Surprising Dan Lanning Claim After Ohio State Upset

Former Ohio State Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer provided high praise for Dan Lanning's latest performance with the Oregon Ducks.

Oregon Ducks On SI

Urban Meyer Makes Surprising Dan Lanning Claim After Ohio...

Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning has had several highlight-worthy moments during his first five seasons in Eugene, going 54-11, including a College Football Playo

When you’re losing, it’s easier to be patient with mistakes made by head coaches than when you are winning. We stuck it out with Rich Brooks for 17 roller-coaster seasons ( and would have longer had he not taken an NFL offer in ‘94) which paid-off with our first Rose Bowl trip since 1917.

While it’s easy enough to understand our current impatiences (who doesn’t like winning more than losing?), that’s not the point. More than any other program I know of, Oregon has a proven track record that being patient pays-off. It’s not only part of our legacy; to me, it’s the best part.

The point is, if being patient with Brooks paid-off with the Rose Bowl, what might be the reward for being patient with Dan?

A tongue-in-cheek look at Oregon's season to date.

Kirby Smart is 0-2 in the 12-team playoff. I can't believe this bum still has a job! 🤪

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/page/gamedaykickoff111226/week-11-top-games-upsets-preview

What does accountability translate to?

He holds himself accountable which is why he fired Mehringer. I don't think he realistically could have fired him earlier (I mean with hindsight sure but not in the moment) ... Oklahoma State was outright unacceptable but sometimes those things happen and the UCLA was a loss with Raiola getting his first start and played his worst game. The Illinois loss showed there was no improvement and there was a Nebraska win between the UCLA and Illinois losses that made Raiola a hero along with the USC masterpiece.

Firing Mehringer after a Nebraska loss would have been one thing but not after a win over Nebraska.

Mehringer was absolutely the wrong hire and Lanning made some other wrong hires in this pool of coaches as well. It just took until this season for some of those hires to truly reveal just how inadequate they are for this team.

The blow out losses to Ohio State and Indiana absolutely suck too... but for Indiana you can see the extenuating circumstances that helped lead to that loss and perhaps next time he'll know what to do. But lets get real even a distracted Will Stein was a better option at play caller than Mehringer though we wouldn't have known it at the time last season.

Lanning gets to prove this off season that he has learned and make the changes needed to this program. If Jay Johnson is auto promoted to full time OC and no one is fired I'll be concerned and I won't try to pump sunshine on that, you have my word.

As an engineering manager I've modelled my approach to employees after great college football teams. Recruiting, evaluation, and development done with a standard of excellence.

I consider Lanning's hire of Meh to be the worst outlier I've seen from any successful program that I can remember, which includes Cristobal 's missteps as well.

He just learned some important lessons at everyone's expense, but I do think he learned, the hard way, as opposed to just remembering everything, but learning nothing as some do.

It actually reduces risk going forward of something similar happening in the future. Changing coaches might only serve to restore that risk, while introducing a whole bunch of other risks of simply underperforming what Lanning has always done successfully too.

7 minutes ago, Washington Waddler said:

which paid-off with our first Rose Bowl trip since 1917

Don't forget about 1958, hate to see the 20th century Duck Rose Bowl history accidently made to sound even worse 🫤.

Some see Dan Lanning as a shooting star, a fleeting spectacle whose brightest moments are already behind him, its brilliance beginning to fade. Others see the North Star, a fixture around which something far greater is still taking shape.

I prefer the latter. 🦆

I've never thought he should be on the hot seat, but I also have never thought that he's an excellent coach considering the gigantic sums of money Oregon has paid for recruitment these last few years.

I think there are probably several coaches who could have done more with the same roster. There are certainly several coaches who whave done more with a worse roster.

15 minutes ago, Utki said:

I've never thought he should be on the hot seat, but I also have never thought that he's an excellent coach considering the gigantic sums of money Oregon has paid for recruitment these last few years.

I think there are probably several coaches who could have done more with the same roster. There are certainly several coaches who whave done more with a worse roster.

I disagree. Same roster with same injuries and personal issues?

Name two coaches who would do better?

LSU, Texas A&M might be interested.

Tossing in some long rambling thoughts. Firing Dan Lanning I am sure was never on the table; and, even if it was somehow considered, his buyout just about guaranteed it wasn't happening. A nonstarter.

The point I saw (and finally wrote about after Illinois) regarding the clear near total collapse on the offensive side of the ball (if not soon corrected), were the similarities to decisions by the Oregon AD in the past.

Helfrich was fired at 33-8 and I think consensus looking back was it was the correct move. There is a lot of talk about the coach losing the locker room and off the field stuff (all likely true), but the defensive collapse that led to most all of that happened first (made worse by no longer having a QB available with enough magic to cover for it).

Oregon had started 2-0 in 2016 and then lost two close games to decent teams both by 3. It then went up to WSU and got mercilessly demolished by Mike Leach who ran for 280 yards of offense on its way to 651 yards and 51 points. It is funny looking back, at the time WSU had also put together a good game on the ground the previous week blowing out Idaho, and the stories at the time after Oregon about WSU were "Leach has finally paired a potent run game with his air raid offense putting up 254 yard rushing at 6.8 ypc recently".

WSU goes on to rush for 84.5 yards per game at 3.2 ypc the rest of the season (minus the blowout Cal game). Leach had not exactly cracked the code adding a potent rushing attack, he just ran into Idaho, Hoke, and Helfrich.

It could be argued pretty easily without the cheap shot injury to Adams, Oregon wins at least 2 out of 3 versus Michigan State, Utah, and WSU (and I am not sure that is even a hot take).

I know QB injuries happen and "ifs and buts"; but, I am gonna go ahead and suggest a QB hurt not in the course of the game, but from a dirty shot from his angry former teammate (that actually was contemplated in "watch out for it" discussions before the game) is a different kind of "hurt" to put on a HC. Helfrich very easily could have been 35-5 heading into whatever playoff game 2015 brought, with a playoff win and a NC appearence under his belt. No cheap shot and Helfrich's early resume is possibly better than Lannings. Yet he was fired 12 games later and I think just about everyone in Duck land remembers it as the correct move.

I understand people pointing out patience but it took Oregon 33 years of slowly investing in football to get here, including having a unique "not-even-once-in-a-program's-lifetime" boost from Nike. With all Dan Lanning players in the program now and a top 3 overall talent composition ranking plus 4 years experience, it probably isn't a great time for "these things happen". That was probably the end of 2022, the two close UW losses, and the Ohio State and Indiana playoff games.

Similarities also exist between Helfrich and Dan arguably as self-inflicted/avoidable wounds. There was a lot of concern about the wisdom of not even really looking around for an OC and selecting Mehringer, just as Helfrich didn't actually at the time appear to put much work before promoting Pellum. There at least was a bigger attempt the second time around by Helfrich at DC, with the rumor Helfrich decided late to pivoted away from Duck alumni Mike Nolan (who appearently was seriously considering returning to college coaching after 29 years in the NFL, including 17 years as a dedicated DC and 4 as a HC), with 247 Sports at one point (1/16/16) even calling the hire "imminent". Talk about self-inflicted wounds. Hoke had never even been a dedicated DC, yet came in and tore up the defensive front.

Duck OC position has about a 100% success rate since 1983 of its guys either becoming P4 head coaches, G6 head coaches, or moving on to another good P4 job. Everyone. It is about as good a guaranteed well paid job for an ambitious OC in college football as is out there. No reason to fail there, unless it is failing with a guy with a big resume.

There also is the question about the OL, which was widely considered one of maybe two roster concerns. The decision was apparently made the floor was high enough to basically skip meaningful portal additions despite eyeballs outside the program seeing concern. Take a look at many of those Spring game discussions.

Tough decisions for sure but the kind HC are expected to routinely make to maintain a floor (especially now looking back and seeing two expected starters Luli and Gernorris undergoing foot and tricep surgery recoveries that were expected to go right up to the season opener). The OL does finally look better and if it shows the same progress against Michigan, at least we can go ahead and point to some successful work done by the staff.

Michigan DC Jay Hill I believe is considered a very good and I don't see this current Duck offense running successfully all day to stay on schedule; and, I doubt he is going to let Raiola be as comfortable as the last two weeks. It will be interesting.

All in on the idea, and have typed a few posts myself, about Danny Ford at Clemson in 1981 being the last one, and few college football HC winning a NC before 40 (only 4 I think).

However, one coach has taken over and won a National Championship at age 40 in his second year as a head coach. Bob Stoops did in 2000. Now, some will say Oklahoma and sure, valid; but, Oklahoma had gone 23-33-1 the five years before he was hired, with one 25 point blowout Copper Bowl loss to BYU in a 6-6 season being their good year. OU also was 14 years removed from its last NC and 11 years removed from its last AP Top 15 finish. Turned it around nearly immediately. Being a HC at or around the top tier of college football isn't easy (as Ryan Day is probably living again this week). With the new rules, I am sure the higher a coach climbs the college football ladder, the shorter the leash gets. As former Boise State HC might say of coaching at the top "It ain't intramurals brother!". 🤷‍♂️

9 hours ago, GeotechDuck said:

I would love to hear from anyone that wants Dan fired who they think the replacement would be. My guess is any realistic option would be a significant downgrade.

Brother, I was thinking the exact same thing. Of all the head coaches of all the best college football teams, who would we be able to pry away from their currently secure situation that would be head and shoulders above Dan Lanning??

Regarding being held accountable, in addition to firing Meh, watching Dan age 10+ years since the beginning of the season is accountability paid in full! The man obviously holds himself to an extremely high standard, and when things are not going well, he wears it openly and publicly.

I personally would not trade him for any other head coach, available or not.

Seeing him so obviously holding himself accountable to his own very high standards are more price than any of us could ever inflict externally.

I'm proud of him as a person that represents us, and am supporting him 1,000%.

Go Ducks!! 🦆🦆🦆 !!!!

Best regards,

OlCodgerduck

Here is my answer to that question:

Do you trade Michael Jordan because he missed some shots?

Dan Lanning pulled his team up and throttled Ohio St. Think about that for a second.

Oregon is now the billy bad @$$ of the Big 10. Indiana played OSU basically even.

Traditional powers Michigan and Penn St are reeling.

Iowa is still being Iowa - watch out for them. UCLA has not really been tested yet since Oregon was weak when they played.

If you want to talk about momentum, Georgia, Alabama and Oregon, in that order. That is who is hot right now.

You can throw in Utah if you want to, but until they beat a team with 4 and 5 stars, they are just a good team.

This season, Oregon could have gone the route of Clemson, Fla St, Michigan, Penn St, Texas A&M, Florida, Oklahoma.

Oregon came back.

But you can hold Dan Lanning "accountable" by scoring the bad OC hire/lack of O line readiness on a spreadsheet.

If too many bad things add up over so many more games or seasons, then you have a case.

But not for some bad off season decisions by a first time head coach. Everybody knew he would make a mistake at some point.

On top of all that, Dan Lanning still has team fired up and he is not losing recruits or players.

That Ohio St game is as big as a "come back" as has ever been seen.

Certainly even bigger than Tennessee beating Alabama. What else did they do with that momentum?

Did they win the SEC that year? No. But they did throw some goal posts in the lake.

That is classic Beavis Move: beat your rival and act like you won the super bowl.

Oregon is hot right now. They can rip a new one into the rest of the schedule and be THE hottest team heading into the post season. The Ducks are not celebrating, they are salivating. Like a pit bull that wants to tear into some flesh.

This team is angry. They are mad about the way they under performed. They knew at pre season, they had a shot at a championship. They have a few injuries, but they are still dangerous. The O line is as "fixed" as it can be and Dillon Raiola is as good a backup they could hope for (at this point in time, that could change). They still have a mission.